Spanish for Law Enforcement

DETAILS

With more and more Spanish-speaking people living in the United States every year, learning the Spanish language is becoming ever more important—especially in the field of law enforcement, where clear and quick communication is crucial. Mastering basic Spanish will give you more power to handle situations involving Spanish-speaking victims, witnesses, or criminals. It's a smart career move as well, because adding Spanish skills to your résumé can open the door to new job opportunities.

Whether you're new to the Spanish language or just want a refresher, this course will teach you the basic Spanish phrases you need for everything from making casual conversation to handling life-or-death situations. You'll start with simple vocabulary for everyday topics including colors, numbers, conversational phrases, family names, and words for asking questions. Next, you'll learn Spanish terminology you can use during arrests, traffic stops, medical emergencies, and many other common law enforcement situations.

In this course, you'll focus specifically on Spanish for law enforcement personnel, skipping the "touristy" phrases you don't need to know. And to make your learning easy and painless, the course is sprinkled with fun games and stories. So if you're having flashbacks to your boring high school Spanish class, don't worry—you can learn Spanish and have fun at the same time. By the end of this course, you'll be well on your way to being a Spanish speaker and communicating more effectively with the Spanish speakers all around you.

SYLLABUS

A new session of each course opens each month, allowing you to enroll whenever your busy schedule permits!

How does it work? Once a session starts, two lessons will be released each week, for the six-week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends.

Keep in mind that the interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes 2 weeks after each lesson is released, so you’re encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The Final Exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the Final Exam has been released, you will have 2 weeks plus 10 days to complete the Final and finish any remaining lessons in your course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Week 1

Lesson 01 - Speaking, Spelling, and Counting in Spanish

Wednesday

¡Bienvenidos! (Welcome !) In our first lesson, you’ll master the building blocks of Spanish. First, you’ll discover how easy it is to spell and pronounce words en español. After that, you’ll learn how to count from 0 to 19.

Lesson 02 - Family, Pronouns, and Easy Conversational Phrases

Friday

La familia is central to Latin American life, and knowing “who’s who” can be a big help when you’re talking with witnesses, crime victims, or suspects. Today you’ll learn the Spanish words for family members, and pick up some easy conversational phrases you can use every day on the job. In addition, we’ll talk about pronouns and explore the role of gender in Spanish.

Week 2

Lesson 03 - Colors, Directional Words, and Numbers from 20 to 199

Wednesday

What color was the suspect’s car? Which way did he go? How fast was he driving? After today’s lesson, you’ll be able to answer all these questions easily en español. We’ll start by talking about the Spanish words for colors, and then move on to directional words (with some prepositions thrown in as a bonus). After that, you’ll learn how to count all the way to 199.

Lesson 04 - Easy Verbs

Friday

Law enforcement professionals are always on the go—so you’ll want lots of action words in your Spanish vocabulary. To help you use Spanish verbs easily, I’ll introduce you to my simple conjugation system that uses only three tenses (present, easy past, and easy future). In addition, we’ll look at two interesting verbs that mean “to be:” ser and estar.

Week 3

Lesson 05 - Vocabulary for Describing People, Objects, and Feelings

Wednesday

Asking questions is a big part of your job, and today you’ll find out how to query your witnesses or suspects en español. After that, we’ll look at powerful words for describing objects, people, and feelings. And in this lesson, you’ll master the very important little word hay—something you’ll definitely want to add to your repertoire.

In this lesson, we’ll add more high-octane words to your vocabulary for talking about people. You’ll learn how to describe their ages, their hair colors, their ethnicity, their legal status, and even what they’re wearing. In addition, we’ll talk about the weather en español. I’ll also introduce you to four handy little words—este, esta, ese, and esa—that will help you stretch out your sentences.

Week 4

Lesson 07 - Time, the Calendar, and Body Parts

Wednesday

It’s time to talk about . . . time! In today’s lesson, you’ll discover how to talk about the hours of the day, the days of the week, and the months of the year in Spanish. As a bonus, you’ll learn how to identify the major parts of the body and obtain answers in emergencies by asking questions like “Where does it hurt?,” “Are you ill?,” and “What happened?”

Lesson 08 - Talking About Places and Things

Friday

Whether you’re taking dispatch calls or walking a beat, you need to be familiar with your neighborhood—so today, we’ll tour the buildings and places in a typical town. In addition, we’ll explore a house inside and out, and take a look at the objects you’re likely to find there. And we’ll talk a little about weights and measures, including the metric measures many Spanish speakers use.

Week 5

Lesson 09 - Legal and Illegal Professions

Wednesday

Today’s topic is professions—both legal and illegal. We’ll start by looking at Spanish words for emergency responders and law enforcement professionals. After that, you’ll meet some additional professionals and learn their names en español. Next, we’ll investigate words for criminals and check out the weapons they’re likely to use. And just for fun, we’ll talk a bit about Spanish first and last names—which can be pretty confusing when you’re trying to file paperwork.

Lesson 10 - Describing Vehicles and Traffic Violations

Friday

Speeders, drunk drivers, red-light runners—you’ll meet all of them in this lesson. We’ll begin with a quick look at words for describing drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. After that, you’ll discover lots of phrases to describe specific traffic violations. We’ll also explore the names for different types of vehicles, and you’ll learn one word you won’t want to use to describe people who break the rules of the road.

Week 6

Lesson 11 - Dealing With Criminal Suspects

Wednesday

At a crime scene, you often need to talk firmly to suspects and witnesses. Today, you’ll learn lots of useful commands for getting people to do what you want—from polite commands like “sit down” to forceful ones like “Up against the wall!” In addition, you’ll find out how to describe your actions when you’re giving a citation, arresting a suspect, or administering a drug or alcohol test. And finally, we’ll practice saying that all-important Miranda warning in Spanish.

In your job, you’re likely to encounter all sorts of medical crises—from heart attacks to gunshot wounds and broken bones. In this lesson, you’ll learn Spanish words that can help you deal with common medical conditions like these. We’ll also touch on the topic of direct object pronouns, and we’ll add to your repertoire of commands for emergency and non-emergency situations.

INSTRUCTOR

Tara Bradley Williams has authored several Spanish textbooks and occupational Spanish reference guides, including the "¡A Conversar!" and "¡A Trabajar!" series. She taught Spanish and English as a Second Language at the high school and community college levels for over 10 years. She has also operated a Spanish language school and served as a medical interpreter. Tara has BA degrees in Spanish and Sociology from St. Norbert College and an MA in Higher Education and Adult Studies from the University of Denver. She has studied Spanish at the Universidad de Ortega y Gasset in Toledo, Spain and has lived and traveled extensively in Spain and Latin America.

REVIEWS

I was surprised how helpful this course was! I truly learned far more than I expected to. I feel this course will be very helpful to me working in the field and I also look forward to continuing my studies of Spanish.

I really enjoyed taking this course. The material was very helpful and easy to follow. I would recommend this course to others who are interested in learing the Spanish language.

Thank you for a very interesting learning experience. The course was great!

Thank you! The course was very well done and I enjoyed taking it.

It was fun to follow the characters through the course! It gave the material some flavor, rather than just having dry material.

This course allowed me to have confidence in the training I have already received and will assist me in my future goals. Thank you for making this course available and very informative. I really enjoyed this course. Thank you, Tara!

This was the first online course I have taken. I look forward to taking more. The instructor was outstanding, she responded to questions and comments in a timely manner and made discussions pleasant and a pleasure to learn from.

Being of Spanish descent, the lessons helped me to learn the very basics (alphabet, numbers, letters, verbs) which I had not known before. The lessons covered everything I needed to know to speak properly when I used my Spanish language with others.

This course was the most organized and best presented course I have taken for studying Spanish. As a Law Enforcement Agent, this course was structured around the daily conversation of communication. Very happy with this course.

Awesome course and useful not only for law enforcement but for anyone wanting to learn Spanish. Thanks again, Tara!